Show A must hear band in 2007 Joseph W. W Bateman Music Reporter Austin Texas is home to toone toone toone one of the biggest and most important festivals of the year the South by Southwest Festival Each year thousands of bands journalists talent scouts and festival attendees crowd the streets of this college collegetown collegetown collegetown town and transform it into a circus in the same way Park City is transformed by th the Sundance Film Festival While the nations nation's attention goes to the festival some local acts arc arc sadly overlooked The lowercased band hello lovers is one act that deserves to break out of the local mold and revel in the national spotlight Blending the emotion and ethics of punk the creativity of jazz improvisation improvisation- and New York City's fashionable rock music hello lovers creates genre- genre defying music steeped in southern blues and spiritual traditions The resulting opus is similar to groundbreaking groundbreaking ground ground- groundbreaking breaking contemporaries Antony Anton and the Johnsons Scott Walker alker and Banhardt The Thebold bold musical ambitions and pop sensibility hello lovers presents brings young seasoned and cynical music lovers together to rejoice in the spectacular and groundbreaking sounds Already the band has been picked by The Onion as one of the Austin bands to watch for in 2007 Composer and vocalist JC King who also contributes guitars and pianos describes the bands band's diverse collection of sounds As an effort to find our palatable marketability weve we've d decided on so southern thern gothic chamber pop for fun chamber pop to keep it simple Which essentially is to say that we make a creative music instinctively inclusive of pop resolutions with the instrumentation of ofa a classical chamber music group or avant garde jazz ensemble that has rather dark and or dramatic moments and as well the result of instinct southern themes King said King the creative force behind hello lovers found inspiration in creative experiments and musical workshops He cites as influences a wide range of artists including Billie Holiday Otis Redding and John Coltrane In choosing the name hello lovers as the banner for music he composed and directed King offers otTers a small view of his take on playing his music for an audience I guess I just like the romance of it and considered it a fair way to greet an audience Perhaps the notion of the anonymous lover or the generalized nature of the greeting I felt resonated with the way I saw some music that I wanted tomake to tomake tomake make and the way I felt it could be heard King said Their debut rel release ase Vanity Fair Eair ou out now no noon on Inchworm Records is a collection of seven songs featuring Kings King's stunning vocals King synthesizes tradition folk-tradition songwriting his training in jazz jazz and a fascination with chamber music to provide distinctive vocals reminiscent of such luminaries as Damien Rice and Bright Eyes Eye's Connor With most vocalists surrounded by a cascade of instrumentals King is often found singing a cappella or accompanied only by acello a acello acello cello or a violin resulting in music that rests in the r. r Xi i iv v. lf r t. t r y 4 2 w wt Ia t f t y l I 4 f. f ce s U 1 r r t Ii V. V n It UJ u t r o 1 fi w a f J J f j I t M. M power of Kings King's vocals The title of the album comes from Kings King's deep introspective thinking Im really into the use of icons ideas imbedded in our minds that have their given associations I find the changing and re- re appropriations of these hidden themes artful and interesting kind of like a reverse psychological graffiti King said I f felt lt the title vanity fair for forthe forthe forthe the collection of works on that EP to be quite pliable toward the effect of many meanings a synthesis of which I felt to be quite fun and even insightful As for the lyrics King is is' is experimenting with language as just an attempt to be free with ideas allowing words tobe tobe to tobe be pictures to be abstract and to cultivate which that resonates or is of a c certain ain gravity or relevance The power of Kings King's vocals and intriguing lyrics along with the impressive and unique instrumental ism transform hello lovers into a band that deserves recognition They are currently gearing up to record their first length full-length album Gone With the Wind and shortly after its fall release the band will embark on a full US U.S. tour As for a date in Salt Lake King said Hey find us a small wooden room room or a club with good sound and were we're coming to |